Not to split the thread... but Lynne did the thing eons after it was originally done and what makes you think a Euro downclimb was the first? I've seen plenty of guys down climb the thing from the mantle.... so it is not much of a reach to believe it was downclimbed years before Lynne was there.

Yabo indeed "found" the line first and had the vision to see that the problem was possible. He showed it to me and Ron - we thought there was about as much chance of doing it as there was the chance that a lightning bolt could strike at midnight (like in the Hendrix song 'Midnight Lightning") - so I drew a bolt on it in chalk....

I think that bolt qualifies as Audience Participation Artwork. I remember, way back when, seeing people dip their finger in chalk, and then trace the bolt, to maintain its white shiny crystal beauty.

It may have been done as an homage, or as a karmic warm up to trying the problem later. Or, it may have just been a generic good-luck ritual, sorta like rubbing the nose of a certain bronze pig near the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

Soon there will be a fence around it and grafiti spray painted initials of gang slang. In 50 years your photo's will adorn the fence. A bronze climber statue will be erected. A shrine will be built over the site. An audio tour will be available. A VW bus with manaquin posers and gear and hippie lettuce will be on display. The Japanese tourists will have their photo taken nest to the lightening bolt. An annual reunion will commence and slowly, over time, there will be a lone survivor......The last of the great climbers...who will it be?

It's not real pleasant falling from there, especially as you really start to press the mantle out and are commited to it. I've done that a couple of times. Should I go back and trace the bolt then? I didn't, the times I peeled off the route. Don't want to cheat the Karma clock!

I was hanging out with Roger and Peter this weekend. We took a spin around Camp 4, they had lived there decades ago and though there have been many changes, much had stayed the same.

But one thing was interesting, we walked around Columbia Boulder and took a look at Midnight Lightning, Roger checked out the lightning bolt and he asked "is that chalk?" and I replied yes... his response "isn't it amazing that generations of climbers have replenished Yabo's lightning bolt?"

It is amazing when you think about it. Not to be sucked into a maudlin funk though, Roger threatened to bring some yellow chalk and put a happy face on next time he was in town!

No, but I bet if you moisten your shrunken little boulderer's tool at the crux and let it freeze in place, it could provide a much needed rest and shake out before the excruciating exit move. LOL The birth of wet tooling ,so to speak!

She is so solid in that clip. Very impressive. Back in the day when I lived in OC (early 80s), we'd boulder at the Beach. Some problems I could never do because of reach, until Lynn showed up one day. Such an intuitive, resourceful climber. She'd always find some solution to overcome a long reach. I still use her sequences on those same problems.

Toproping it has been mentioned a couple times . Does it has it's own anchor , or it's rigged somehow ? And , not to start a conspiracy theory , but might the route have been worked via toprope prior to the FA ? And would that taint the FA ? In the light of it's present day fame etc it's pretty hard to believe it was preserved as a ' ground-up ' (only) boulder problem from the beginning , or am I just off base .

Putting things in some perspective though, pre-early 90's ascents probably did not involve a dozen XXL pads and a posse of cheering spotters ready to catch yer fall, ala the modern bring-the-gym-outdoors style.

I'd at least hope some old timers could appreciate this distinction, as I've watched highballs of the past become trivial, with stacked pads and gang spotting.

edit:In years of daily bouldering around Camp I only touched ML once. Walked up to it in my tennies and put my unchalked hands on the starting holds and Schultz preparing for a lap, yells "DON'T TOUCH THOSE F*#KING HOLDS"(It was probably hot).All four million residents of camp were staring at me. Dave laughs, "spot me man" and fires it. I never touched it again, since he told me not to.